History YMMV / XenoSaga

* EstrogenBrigade: As discussed by various creators for the game such as KOS-MOS' designer Choco, the series attracted a strong female fanbase due to the character-focused writing and discussions of issues that many women found relatable, such as abusive relationships and recovering from trauma.

** In Episode 3 it's the Merkaba, not because it is really that difficult (it does not even have a boss fight) but because it is full of backtracking. It even extends to after you have completed the dungeon in the story; the final room of the dungeon can only be accessed from the Encephalon, and to open the door you must return to the final room with your characters, and then go all the way back to your AMWS and up to the second floor to access the room.

* EvilIsSexy: Well, sex''ier'' if you compare T-elos to KOS-MOS. ''"You haven't got the best of me. Hardly."''
** Albedo too, if his many fangirls are to believed.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: All three episodes were considered quite high tier in regards of graphical prowess when they first came out. However, nowadays Episodes I and II in particular are considered considerably dated. To be more specific:
** Episode I is the one hit the hardest by this out of the trilogy. The graphics were actually quite impressive back in 2002, specially during the most epic cutscenes. The space battles were particularly noteworthy. However, the characters look quite stiff and lifeless by today's standards, and they tend to fail to live up to the emotions the game is going for for modern audiences. The anime style character designs are ironically partially to blame too. Although the character models were pretty impressive when they first came out, probably the most successful execution of that particular style up to that point (they were missed in Episode II for a reason), the primitive facial animations make them look too dead-eyed and doll-like now, and the exaggerated facial features only draw more attention to it.
** Episode II is the most ironic case, since the change in character design for a more realistic approach, while heavily criticized when it first came out, has made the game to arguably age more gracefully. Of course, the far improved animations, specially in high-quality cut scenes, is a big responsible for this. But even in low-quality cut scenes, the more proportionate face features makes the lack of facial expressions to be far less jarring than in its predecessor. However, the lower polygon count of character models in said low-quality cut scenes look still quite dated on their own, and the fact that you have the far more successful high-quality models to compare them to makes them more noticeable. Not to mention that the animation tone problems still apply.
** Episode III is the one entry that manages to escape almost completely. The high-quality cut scenes are quite a view even today, thanks to the experience that Monolithsoft had gotten with the previous entries, managing to actually execute the anime style more successfully without the lifelessness of Episode I nor the mismatch of Episode II. The decision to do without low-quality cut scenes in the style of the previous two entries, opting for using old-school text boxes (albeit voiced) instead, also proved to be a wise solution, long-term. They may look less cinematic, but since the camera is almost always pulled back, they also manage to hide their shortcomings far more successfully. Many people argue that Episode III just needs an HD upscale to be considered at least decent for modern audiences.
** Related, but the soundtrack, despite that it's one of the best aged parts of the trilogy. A modern player looking back at the series might wonder why the first game advertised that it used the London Philharmonic Orchestra for its soundtrack. Many people might not think about this since video games have joined film in keeping the orchestra alive, but in the TurnOfTheMillennium, this was ''quite'' unusual to see in a video game.

** Episodes I & II: [[DarkMessiah Patriarch Sergius XVII]] presents himself as the beloved spiritual leader of the galaxy, but in truth is the mastermind behind behind the [[ChurchMilitant U-TIC terrorist organization]] who seeks to conquer humanity. Once the owner of the [[MacGuffin original Zohar supercomputer]], Sergius boosted its power by wiring it up to two innocent little Realian girls, [[AndIMustScream keeping them in agony for over a decade]] while having them and the Zohar experimented on. When the Zohar was lost in the destruction of Old Miltia, Sergius began a crusade to get it back using U-TIC, and once he succeeds, he activates the [[HumongousMecha Omega System]] to force all of galactic civilization to submit to him under penalty of death.

*** The main point of this contention would be Episode III, particularly during the last third of that episode's story. While in the previous two episodes she had some detractors, the reception of her tended to be clearly more positive than negative. However, [[spoiler:her fixation on going back to Kevin, utterly rejecting her friends and their attempts for help in the process to the point she even ends up turning against them]] made her extremely divisive. Not only in Episode III specifically, but in the series as a whole. Depending on your perspective, you'll feel sorry that her judgment has been derailed so badly, with some arguing that it's actually a very realistic depiction of a victim of emotional abuse, or your sympathy for her will just go out the window due to it not necessarily receiving a lot of onscreen buildup beforehand. [[spoiler:Although Shion eventually snaps out of it, for many, if not the majority of her detractors, it only happens when it's too little, too late]].

** ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'': The contention is about which of the two had the best narrative. Both go for huge space opera epics, with a millennia-extending and mystery-ridden JigsawPuzzlePlot that demands the player's full attention to understand what's going on. While it's mostly accepted that ''Xenosaga'' was more consistent in its presentation and gameplay[[note]]mostly because ''Xenosaga'' doesn't have anything resembling the infamous Disc 2 from ''Xenogears''. Episode 2 has a lot of problems, but having almost no gameplay sections whatsoever ain't one of them[[/note]], ''Xenogears'' is generally considered to have pulled off a more satisfying and intriguing story overall regardless. Something a bit less clear cut is which of the two games have the best characters. ''Xenogears'' tends to be favored when it comes to the plot and worldbuilding and the protagonists[[note]]Fei doesn't suffer from being a BaseBreakingCharacter nearly as much as Shion does[[/note]], while ''Xenosaga'' is considered to have stronger and more unique CharacterDevelopment arcs and be better at making the entire cast more or less relevant the whole way through[[note]]A common criticism towards ''Xenogears'' is that too many characters, including playable ones, fall back to the background rather quickly, and become passive actors at best, and borderline irrelevant at worst. On the other hand, ''Xenosaga'', while not perfect in this regard (Shion gets OutOfFocus sometimes, and MOMO doesn't have much to do in Episode 3), managed to give almost all its characters at least some opportunity to shine until the very end[[/note]].
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'': In this case, usually over the StoryToGameplayRatio. ''Xenosaga'' fans typically regard ''Xenoblade'' as having dumbed down story, characters, and themes to appeal to LowestCommonDenominator audiences, whereas ''Xenoblade'' fans argue that both ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenosaga'' were too ambitious for their own good and require too much outside reading to make enjoyable, whereas the ''Xenoblade'' franchise managed to deliver stories that were largely told onscreen without heavy reliance on AllThereInTheManual. At the least, in the gameplay area ''Xenoblade'' tends to be viewed as beating the other two franchises out of the water due to it more modern WideOpenSandbox design and less reliance on overtly long cut scenes (which creator Tetsuya Takahashi said was deliberate, describing the cutscene-heavy approach of ''Xenosaga'' as a developmental dead-end).

** ''Episode II'' is considered the worst of the trilogy, if not downright a FranchiseKiller. On it's own, it isn't necessarily outright bad, with some saying it's generally solid, but as the middle game that clashes with the first and third game, it suffers from that middle spot due to the design choices. Many people gave up on the series altogether with that game for multiple reasons.

* FandomRivalry: To an extend, with both its spiritual predecessor ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' ''and'' its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles''.
** ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'': The contention is about which of the two had the best narrative. Both go for huge space opera epics, with a millennia-extending and mystery-ridden JigsawPuzzlePlot that demands the player's full attention to understand what's going on. While it's mostly accepted that ''Xenosaga'' was more consistent in its presentation and gameplay[[note]]mostly because ''Xenosaga'' doesn't have anything resembling the infamous Disc 2 from ''Xenogears''. Episode 2 has a lot of problems, but having almost no gameplay sections whatsoever ain't one of them[[/note]], ''Xenogears'' is generally considered to have pulled off a more satisfying and intriguing story overall regardless. Something a bit less clear cut is which of the two games have the best characters. ''Xenogears'' tends to be favored when it comes to the protagonists[note]]Fei doesn't suffer from being a BaseBreakingCharacter nearly as much as Shion does[[/note]], while ''Xenosaga'' seems to be considered the better one at making the entire cast more or less relevant the whole way through[[note]]A common criticism towards ''Xenogears'' is that too many characters, including playable ones, fall back to the background rather quickly, and become passive actors at best, and borderline irrelevant at worst. On the other hand, ''Xenosaga'', while not perfect in this regard (Shion gets OutOfFocus sometimes, and MOMO doesn't have much to do in Episode 3), managed to give almost all its characters at least some opportunity to shine until the very end[[/note]].
** ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'': In this case, ''Xenoblade'' fans consider this franchise as the best work from Tetsuya Takahashi. Although ''Xenosaga'' fans call out ''Xenoblade'' for having dumbed down the story, ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' fans argue that both ''Xenogears'' and ''Xenosaga'' were too ambitious for their own good, whereas ''Xenoblade Chronicles'' the franchise that managed to deliver a more balanced experience, with stories that manages to be both satisfyingly and relatively easy to follow without needing to read a wiki. At the least, in the gameplay area ''Xenoblade'' tends to be viewed as beating the other two franchises out of the water due to it more modern WideOpenSandbox design and less reliance on overtly long cut scenes (which creator Tetsuya Takahashi said was deliberate, describing the cutscene-heavy approach of ''Xenosaga'' as a developmental dead-end).

* TierInducedScrappy: Ziggy can hit quite hard and withstand a lot, but because he's slow most people would rather just use MOMO, chaos, or Junior instead.